Online edit of logbookentry 2025-07-02c

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@@ -186,6 +186,28 @@ The bags where left at the end of the tight crawl before Mongal Rally, and a goo
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+<div class="tripdate" id="2025-07-02c">2025-07-02</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Jonty</u>, Becka, Buck, Joel</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Reflectorist - Revisiting Reflectorist</div>
+<p>Having the previous day decided he was definitely taking a rest day today, Jonty ascended the hill to explore Reflectorist with Buck, Joel and Becka. This was following a long day the previous day of Basecamp -> Homecoming -> Top Camp -> Basecamp, and a mildly sprained ankle. Jonty was then again personally victimised by the plateau, despite having consistently bowed to the plateau monster on passing. Sometimes the will of the plateau monster is indecipherable by lower minds. Fortunately, Doctor Alice Kirby was on hand to apply magic cream to the scrapes - a nice change for her as Jonty did not try to kick or spit on her (being neither a llama nor in danger of castration).
+<p>
+<p>Soon the group reached Stoney Bridge and gathered supplies - including some flapbuck and jelly snakes - which Becka insisted she would never stoop so low as to eat. The Reflectorist team set off with the Balcony supply team, who were somewhat overencumbered with Balcony supplies. They had taken differing approaches to bag carrying, Alice carrying one backpack stacked onto the other, and Ella with a second bag hanging off her waist in front of hair. The were advantages and disadvantages to each strategy, but neither was optimal. Alice's method ultimately ruled superior when Ella's rucksack chest strap ceased to perform both its task of suspending her second bag from itself, and being a chest strap.
+<p>
+<p>Having made it to Balcony with no other predictable events occuring, Buck and Joel lent a hand to Alice and Ella to get their bags onto the Balcony balcony. Jonty decided to scoot down the far side of the hole underneath to replenish water bottles from the snow plug, predicting continuation of the sweltering 30 degree midday sun. The group was soon underway again, attempting to follow the recorded return track from the previous prospecting trip. There were multiple route prospects so the group decided to execute a pincer movement to find the best route. Buck and Jonty's pince involved some slightly tricky moves, but they still proudly reached the convergence before the other pair, who almost definietly had chosen the better route. The cave entrance was finally reached, despite Becka's worries that the original prospecting team had forgotten where it was.
+<p>
+<p>Jonty and Joel descended the first pitch to start paving the way, while Buck and Becka stayed top-side to calibrate the Disto and SAP 6 that had been brought. They spent the next hour gardening the bottom of the first pitch and top of the second pitch until it reached a state they were brave enough to descend. This involved some quite intensive manhandling of numerous large and small rocks, and some enthusiastic hammer blows. They then called up to the surface team who called back that they had not yet started the survey but had heard some very large rumblings coming from the floor. Soon, however, they were shooting their first legs and Jonty was on the way down the second pitch of the cave. About 10 meters further down, he encountered another ledge that took an additional half hour to garden, and a skyhook to drill a well-placed deviation. He then continued down the rope onto a boulder choke that unfortunately spelt the end of the cave. Of course the whole group was saddened by this news, but Becka decided this was a good excuse to start bodging some survey data.
+<p>
+<p>Joel on his inspection of the bottom of the cave found a skeleton that he claimed to be rodent-like and then professed to be a Gemze. It's true origins remain a mystery though, perhaps even being some kind of proto-human. Nevertheless, Jonty and Joel began an ascent from the killed-off pit, reaching the surface to again be greeted by the glaring sun, with Buck following close behind and Becka shortly after, having helpfully derigged the cave. She did however express her dissatisfaction about how easily the pulse anchors could be removed.
+<p>
+<p>While Becka tidied her things away, Buck led Jonty and Joel to a nearby hole that he and Becka had found while meddling with the survey devices. The hole - 2006 05 - had been tagged but never dropped, as far as the group could discern. Given the group's existing presence with cave-dropping gear, a crack team of Joel was sent to check the cave, with Becka's instructions to perform a 'quick and dirty' operation. He performed some impressive bolting maneouvers and after only an hour reached the floor 15 meters below, having dropped Jonty's safety glasses down the cave twice. Unfortunately this cave proved again to not be the one that would cement these CRESH members' spots as big-cave-discoverers. Serendipidously, there was another snow plug at the bottom of this cave, which the group sent water bottles down for Joel to fill with, despite their earlier chiding remarks of Jonty's superfluous snow plug excursion, and his soon-after vindication when they tasted the icy goodness of his drink on this 30 degree day.
+<p>
+<p>Joel was soon prussiking up the pitch with the ice bottles, where he reached the deviation, made of 2 carabiners, that Jonty had helpfully suggested he use when the sling he had had been too long. Unfortunately Jonty's suggestion had made the deviation too deviating and very difficult to pass, causing an ensuing kerfuffle. The were various suggestions and gear sent down to Joel over the next 10 minutes, but he eventually unstuck himself with a cordlette 3:1, a microtraxion and a knife. Becka commented that she had never seen anyone quite as strung up as he had been. 2 hours after initiation, this quick and dirty operation had certainly succeeded in achieving one of those criteria, but Becka who had previously been getting very impatient had been cheered up from watching Joel try to escape his fate. This also meant the walk down would now be less hot and sunny than it would have been before the extra project.
+<p>
+<p>The group decided that they would take the 'brave and direct' route back, which they decided would probably exist. There was an early failed pincer movement, which resulted in a somewhat one-sided pince when Joel had to solo backtrack his route which the other 3 had decided didn't look as promising. The group then discovered some promising looking holes that when passed in previous years had been snow-plugged, and may warrant a futher investigation. The route finally appeared from above top camp, with a final bit of bunde bashing before they emerged and finally could rest.
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 4.0 hours</div>
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+
 <div class="tripdate" id="2025-07-03a">2025-07-03</div>
 <div class="trippeople"><u>balister</u></div>
 <div class="triptitle">plateau - My Day 1</div>